Pete was lying in the bed in the hospital. Bright sunlight was shining and he could hardly distinguish anything behind the window. The sunlight reflected from the white walls filling the room with the bright light spreading pleasant warm throughout Pete’s body. “What a nice day,”ť he thought. It was a really nice day, as nice and bright as those dreams Pete had in his childhood. When he was a little boy he dreamed that he would become a hockey player.

In fact, this was the only dream he had. At any rate, he had this dream as long as he remembered himself. When he was five years old, his father brought him to a hockey trainer who he supposed could help him to try himself in hockey. The old man, as Pete often called his father, believed that hockey was just a fancy of his little son who always talked about the latest hockey matches, outstanding hockey players. In spite of his young age, he had already understood hockey, the rules of the game, and when he asked his son about his sweetest dream Pete answered that the only thing he dreamed about was hockey.

After that conversation, his father could hardly resist to the intention of his little son to play hockey, though he believe that Pete will forget hockey in a few months, or a couple of years at most. However, Pete had different plans.

He had never given up playing hockey. In stark contrast, he started to play hockey and got more and more involved in this sport. Instead of satisfying his childish desire to play like older boys, he became a real fan of hockey. In fact, hockey became the sense of his life. He was practically convinced that he would have a great future.

Since the age of nine he dreamed, or, to put it more precisely, he raved that one day he would play in the final of Stanley Cup. He often talked to his parents and to his friends that the day would come and he would win Stanley Cup. Moreover, in his dreams he imagined that his team was losing the match. Even lying in the bed in the hospital, he perfectly remembered that he imagined that the score was two to nothing, the entire team was in despair, and the manager told Pete “You are our last hope. Go and play!”ť And Pete played in his dream. What a perfect game that was.

He scored once, twice. Finally, when there were just a few seconds to play he shot from the point and scored the third goal and his team had won.

A month ago he became a member of the professional team. The season had just started and the manager told that he was going to let Pete start to play. It was a great chance for him. And the last weak he was in play. He perfectly remembered that feeling when he stepped on ice. He was a bit nervous but at that moment he thought that his dream had started to come true. However, he had played just a bit more than two minutes. A player of another team practically smashed him against the ice and Pete felt a sharp pain in his knee. A couple of days ago, the doctor told him the result of the analysis and the diagnosis was like a sentence to Pete ”“ he would never play as a professional hockey player. The severe injury ruined his dream about his professional career, about the final of Stanley Cup, and about his hat-trick. His dream was smashed against the ice of the arena where he played his first professional match.